Solomon Perel
Solomon Perel | |
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Born | |
Died | 2 February 2023 | (aged 97)
Solomon Perel (also Shlomo Perel or Solly Perel; 21 April 1925 – 2 February 2023) was a German-born Israeli author and
Biography
Perel was born in Peine, Lower Saxony, to Jewish parents who had immigrated to Germany from Russia. When the Nazis came to power, systematic persecution of Germany's Jewish citizens began. In 1935, the Perel family relocated to Łódź, Poland, where Solomon's aunt lived, after their shoe store was looted and Perel was expelled from his school.[1]
After the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939, Solomon Perel and his brother Yitzhak attempted to escape to the Soviet-occupied part of Poland. Solomon succeeded and was placed in a Komsomol-run orphanage in Grodno, while his brother made his way to Vilnius in Lithuania.
Perel fled from the orphanage after the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, and was captured near Grodno by the
Being still a minor, Perel was told he could not remain with the army. Instead, he was sent to a Hitler Youth boarding school in Braunschweig, where he continued to hide his Jewish identity under the name of Josef Perjell (changed to Josef Peters for the film Europa Europa). While there he was put through classes on Nazi racial theory and pre-military preparation exercises. In order to hide the fact that he was circumcised, he refrained from showering with other students whenever possible, or showered while facing the wall or while wearing underwear.[1] At the time he had a girlfriend by the name of Leni Latsch. She was a member of the Nazi-instituted League of German Girls (BDM), so although Perel loved Leni he dared not tell her that he was Jewish, fearing of her informing the authorities. Later, Leni's widowed mother discovered he was Jewish but did not reveal his secret.
Towards the end of the war, Perel was drafted into the army as an infantryman and assigned to guard a bridge armed with a handheld anti-tank rocket launcher. On the night of 20 April 1945, the eve of his 20th birthday, shortly after he had been inducted into the army, Perel was captured by the
Once in Israel, Perel was inducted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. After being released from the Israeli army he became a businessman. In 1959 he married his wife Dvora, and they had two sons. Perel did not return to Germany until 1985, at the invitation of the Mayor of Peine, to participate in a commemoration of the destruction of the Peine Synagogue.[citation needed]
Perel died in Israel on 2 February 2023, at the age of 97.[3]
I Was Hitler Youth Salomon
Perel later wrote a book about his exploits, titled Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon (I Was Hitler Youth Salomon). His work was later adapted into the 1990 film Europa Europa, produced by CCC Film. He often toured and gave talks throughout Europe about his wartime experiences.
The Dutch playwright Carl Slotboom wrote at the request of Salomon Perel a play based on Perel's story titled Du sollst leben (Dutch: Je zult leven; English: You shall live), which was first staged in Waalwijk, Netherlands, in 2002, which is also Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands. Solomon Perel visited Waalwijk, Zevenbergen and Abbekerk (Netherlands) to see the play.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Hitler Youth school named after Holocaust survivor
- ^ a b 'I pretended to be a German to survive the Holocaust'
- ^ "נפטר ניצול השואה שלמה פרל, גיבור הסרט "אירופה אירופה"". Srugim. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- Perel, Solomon (1997). Europa Europa. John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-17218-9.
- French: Perel, Shlomo, Europa, Europa (Paris: Ramsay, 1990), translated from the Hebrew by Lysette Hassine-Mamane, 265 pages.
- Hebrew: Korim li Shelomoh Perel! (Tel-Aviv: Yedi'ot Aharonot, 1991); Eropah, Eropah (Tel-Aviv: Yedi'ot Aharonot, 1994, 2004)
- Polish: Europa, Europa (Warszawa: Wydawn. Cyklady, 1992)
- German: Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon (München: Heyne, 1993; Berlin: Nicolai, 1998, 2001)
- German/Dutch/English: Du sollst leben/Je zult leven/Thou shalt live (play by the Dutch author Carl Slotboom)
- Czech: Přežil jsem v Hitlerjugend (Praha, 2001)